Napoleon vs Weber

[srode]

Went out to start the grill yesterday and it wouldn't start, I found out the fire box had given way and there just a huge hole so it wouldn't light. It's a Napoleon Prestige II that's probably 18 years old. The sear plate built inside has been a pain over the ownership off and on, and the ignighter stopped working probably 5 years ago so instead of welding in a new firebox I'm ready to buy something new. A sear plate is a requirement, I don't need a side burner for anything. We grill porksteaks, chicken breast, steaks, bratts. Don't need rotisserie. I'm looking at the Weber and Napoleon grills. For Napoleon either prestige 500 or Roque XT 625 seems to be check the boxes. For Weber I see Costco has Weber Genesis II 435 for sale reasonably. Willing to spend $1000 to $1600 range. Any input?

[troutspinner]

I bought a Napoleon last year and couldn’t be happier. I may not be the best griller in the world but the Napoleon makes me look like I know what I’m doing.

When I was looking, a similar prices Weber just didn’t stand up to the build quality of the Napoleon and I really liked the wavy grates of the Napoleon for grilling vegetables. There are some channels on YouTube that test and rate grills, I watched many of them before I made my purchase. After a year of grilling, my decision I feel was perfect.

[Sharpcard]

I just noticed that the Napoleon has the option to add a charcoal tray. I have never seen that before on a gas grill. It might make more mess than it's worth but I would like that option.

[srode]

Guess I'm going to get a Prestige 500 grill with the side sear plate. It's a bit smaller than the one we have, but because the sear plate is outside and not inside it's actually got similar if not more grill space. We have a rotisserie for this one but haven't ever used it so I might try using the one that comes with this grill. I can't see anything important to me that's offered in the prestige pro 500 model and it costs about twice as much. My only pick on the new Napoleon grill is there's no room to keep a second tank inside the cabinet below the grill like the one we have now has.

[scotti509]

You can find Weber grills way less expensive than Costco! Don't get me wrong, Costco has it's perks, but their pricing on Weber's isn't one of them.